This is such a busy time for me, as I have project going in many directions. The days just fly by and neither Keith or I can believe how quickly time is passing. It is Friday already and another week is coming to a close. While I did accomplish a great deal, I still have a bit more to do to button up these projects.

We also have a wholesale order to fill, as the Artist’s Club accepted the painted version of the mask ornaments that I designed a couple of months ago (that seems like a LONG time ago!) and we want to get their initial order out by the beginning of the week. We have already printed up all the patterns, and the wood is prepped and Keith even spent much of the day packaging the patterns themselves while doing other things. I think today and tomorrow, as much as I would like to continue with what I am doing, I need to start the cutting on these kits. I would love to see the boxes go out Monday or Tuesday, just to insure that we meet their deadline.

And speaking of deadline – my deadline for my next magazine project is quickly approaching. I did get the pieces cut out yesterday, with some modifications necessary, so that took up a good part of my day. Here is part or the result:

This is a really fun project! It is a little different than what I have been working on here, and as I said, some of the pieces of it needed to be adjusted and re-cut. What I am showing you is only part of it though, and I am going to leave the other parts for later on so you have something to look forward to next week. I think it is going to be cute and a bit more whimsical than some of the other things I am working on at the moment. You will just have to check back in a couple days to see the progress . . .

I didn’t finish the cutting on that project until well into the afternoon. I had hoped to finish cutting my last two trays, and I took some time to do a pretty good tidying up of things so I could take inventory and start with a clean work space. One thing about having a small area to work in is that it tends to get cluttered rather quickly and I think it is important that I stay on top of things. So I sorted, put things away, cleaned and vacuumed everything, and started off fresh.

By that time, I thought that I would only be able to complete the cutting on one of the two remaining trays, and I resigned myself to that. I cut the next tray relatively quickly though, and here are pictures from it below:

It is a rounded triangle and has the words “Love, Hope and Faith” along with some pretty embellishments. I thought it would be a really nice theme for a candle, and it can be used all year round.

The wood I used for it was again ash, as I liked its clean and light color. I also thought that since the tray was done in a ‘negative’ style (where the design is removed from the wood rather than left behind) that it would show off the pretty grain nicely.

As you can see, the piece hasn’t even been sanded yet. I had hoped to do that last night, but I finished early enough and I thought I would at least start cutting the last tray. But as I cut, I got caught up in things and just kept going. It then got to the point where I didn’t want to stop because I was so close to the finish line. I continued on and did finish cutting the last of the seven new trays in the early evening.

This tray was simple to cut, but as you can see, there are a lot of holes in it. It didn’t take much thought to cut this, but it did take a bit of time because of the great amount of switching you needed to do with the blade. Even with a great saw like the Excalibur that make re-threading the blade easy. I chose oak for this piece, and I think it came out nice. AS you can see, it is a pet theme and I can bet you will guess which kind of pet. But I will wait until I am further on with finishing to show you.

As with the previous plaque, this is only cut and not even sanded. I wanted to try to get them sanded and oiled last night, but it was already past nine and I was pretty tired. I still needed to lay out the pattern for the masks so that we would use our wood more efficiently and print out the patterns on label sheets. By the time I finished with everything it was after 10pm.

It was a long day, but a fun day. Today and the next several days will be very busy. It will be good to get the wholesale order out the door, and it will be a lot of fun to see both the project for the magazine, as well as the seven trays come to life. There are several of them that still need more small pieces, and I plan on offering colored versions of most of them too. Building the rest of the project for the magazine will be a fun adventure too.

It is all good. And it is all crazy/busy. I certainly am not going to get bored any time soon!

I hope you all like the new designs and the ‘sneak peeks’ that I show you. It is fun to share them along the way. I appreciate all of your kind comments and encouragement, too. Thank you very much!

I wish you all a great Friday! I hope you all have a good weekend too and that Mother Nature is kind to you.

8 comments so far

Wow Sheila you both have been really busy, time for a cuppa :)That one reminds me of the pet Crow that we had call CrowleyHe was great fun, he played with our cat all day long or the cat might have said that he teased him.Yesterday I could fully understand how Anna felt when she sawthe new designs. Just itching to get a hold of them to adapt to variousother designs.That is what I did with your Sun Moon design, I adapted it to fit myproject. I still need to put it on the lathe and then I’ll show it off. ThenI can deliver it to the customer, they already saw the design of the Sun Moon on your web site. It was nice to pass on your web link and then letthe customer choose.Sheila you are an inspiration.Oh! I love the Pet platter and the tri-plate.

Have a Sublime day a scone & a CuppaJamie

-- Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though 'twere his own. --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Hi Sheila, my brother would love your triangle tray. I think I will make him a set of coasters using that pattern for his birthday. I can incorporate some of my photographs. Jamie, Sheila just keeps my brain ticking along!:)Enjoy your day. A wet morning here but it’s clearing up now.

Thanks everyone so much! I am sorry – I thought that I answered the comments here yesterday! I do really appreciate your comments and thoughts on what I make. I love doing the little candle trays because you can use the designs in so many other ways. They are a nice and comfortable size to cut, too. I can’t wait to see them all finished! I will let you all know as soon as the patterns are available. Thanks,again!